Problem: The geometric series $a+ar+ar^2+\cdots$ has a sum of $12$, and the terms involving odd powers of $r$ have a sum of $5.$ What is $r$?
Explanation: The geometric series involving the odd powers of $r$ is $ar+ar^3+ar^5+\cdots = 5.$ Note that if we subtract this from the original series, the series involving the even powers of $r$ is  \[12-5=7= a+ar^2+ar^4+\cdots =\frac{1}{r}(ar+ar^3+ar^5+\cdots).\]However, the series involving even powers of $r$ is just $\frac{1}{r}$ times the series involving odd powers of $r,$ as shown above. Thus, substituting in our values for both those series, $7=\frac{1}{r}(5) \implies r=\boxed{\frac{5}{7}}.$